Well I walked into my local gun shop today who sells Vortex optics and
low and behold they had a strike fire sitting on the shelf. I have
been waiting for one so I grabbed it up. http://vortexoptics.com/riflescopes/view/vortex-strikefire-red-dot-riflescope
They retail for $160, I got it for $130. So it fits right in with all
the Vortex lines, which is nitched for a quality product but priced to
the medium to lower end price tag.

I have not shot it yet but
a couple initial observations. It comes with a set of really nice
scope caps already on it. Glass is pretty clear, but it has a slight
red tint to it. Not really in the same league as my IOR 4x but it is
not bad. It seems like the Aimpoint has a red tint as well, it has
been about a year since I used one of those so I can't remember for
sure. The buttons are rubber coated and do have a slight click to
them, but you don't notice it unless you are really paying attention.
I would rather have them more noticeable.

It has both red and
green illumination. The illumination seems a little dim to me even on
the highest setting. I took it outside on my AR and while I could see
it all the time, when I moved the gun quickly from target to target it
seemed as though it would be a little faster if it was brighter. When
you first turn it on it goes to the color you had it set to last. You
then have to push the button again to get the other color. I think
that is a nice feature.

The ring that goes with it is very
heavy duty looking. It is aluminum and it looks a lot like the burris
xtreme rings to me. It does not co-witness with iron sights, they sit
a little lower in the scope. Some will like that others will not.
Supposedly Vortex is going to make a slightly lower rings for those who
want a true co-witness.

It also comes with a 2x magnifier
that screws onto the eye piece end of the scope. When I first put it
on I noticed that it takes away atleast half of the field of view.
That seemed to be a big turn off to me. After I took it outside and
looked at targets that were 100yards and beyond away it was not so
bad. My IOR fixed 4x has at least twice the field of view as this
Vortex with the 2x magnifier on it. Of course the closer you get the
objective to your eye the bigger it gets. If a person planned on using
a flip down rear sight the scope would need to be mounted pretty far
forward so you could flip it up and still have the scope mounted. So
if you put the magnifier on with the sight flipped down it would be
pretty far from your eye. So a person would probably not want to use
it much for moving targets. But for precision medium range shots I can
see how it would help. Vortex is also talking of making a 4x magnifier
for it. I really hope they do something with the field of view if they
do or 4x will not even be usable.

The finnish seems to be the
same matte that is on their regular rifle scopes. Nothing super
special but I am sure it will be suffiecent.

It takes a
lithium 3v CR2 battery. It has an automatic shut off after 4 hours on,
so that is a nice feature for those of us who forget to turn them off.

I will probably sight it in today and then put it through some
of my torture test. Which include using if for varmint hunting. We
always go on our wheelers and the gun is put in the handle bar gun
rack. So it will see an aweful lot of bouncing around and some rough
treatment. I have broke several lesser scopes hauling them that way so
it should be a good test for it. I will also mount it on my benelli m4
and see how it holds up on it.

So this will be a running review that I will add to as it is used.

Lifetime warranty and excellent customer service don't mean a thing when your gun fails during a zombie attack.

As of right now with the little I have used it I am very disappointed in
how bright the dot is or should I say how bright the dot is not. I
have been using it in the snow and I can barely see the dot in either
red or green. I find myself just using my back up irons through the
otpic as much as I use the dot. I called Vortex on this and they said
yes it is not as bright as the Aimpoint. So they know it and it seems
to be fine with them. Maybe if it is not used in the snow it will be
better, but I am doubting it.

Lifetime warranty and excellent customer service don't mean a thing when your gun fails during a zombie attack.

I have talked to Vortex guys and they will send me a Strikefire for review. I should have it in a few days, I think. I do not have an Aimpoint on hand to compare it to, but I do have a Millett ZoomDot (which I previously compared to an Aimpoint), shich should provide some reasonable comparison.

Well I took it to my class and tried to use it but it did not turn out so well. It was to dim for me to be able to use at all. Trying to get on target quickly was impossible, I took it off after 1/2 a day and just used my iron sights.

I called Vortex and they want me to send it back and they will take a look at it. I surely hope it is just mine that is this way and that is not the way they are.

Another really odd thing about it is the only battery that will work in it is the one that came with it. I bought 4 brand new batters to try in it and non of them will work. I can pop them in my range finder and they work just fine, but when I put them in the red dot it will not even turn on.

Ohh well, I am not much for battery operated only optics anyway. I will follow up again when I get it back.

Lifetime warranty and excellent customer service don't mean a thing when your gun fails during a zombie attack.

Had one of those Billy and it worked OK but had to take it off my rifle because it had a blueish tint to the class that really screwed me up in heavy bush/overcast days. Gave it to a younger guy with better eyes than mine and he likes it fine but just too dark for me.

If you compare the quality of the Vortex it is above the average quality of the lower and mid prices scopes. They are being used by numerous police departments around the country. They also have the best warranty of any optics that I have ever seen.

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